Hidden bed solutions.....

[Larry Edgerton]

My wife and I are building a small house that is a replica of a one room schoolhouse, with a couple of additions like one often see off of each end. We have decided that the schoolhouse section needs to stay one room. We do not have any kids at home, and so one bedroom is all we need, but the kids do come home so a provision has to be made for that. The house is 1100 sq. ft., so thought must be put into every little detail to get the most out of it.

It does have a porch that is under roof that I would like to make a multipurpose space. It is next to the kitchen and has a view of the forest in the rear of the property, and I can see us eating dinner there 9 months of the year. It will be heated but the heat will be off when not needed. It is this space that I want to make convertable, in other words a porch all but a few days of the year, and a bedroom when the girls are home.

I have built Murphy beds, but I was wondering if there were any other ideas out there for space saving. I am toying with the idea of one that drops down out of the ceiling, but it is not clear in my head yet.

Small houses are much harder than big homes, but we like a small house, and the small maintainance/heating costs that go with it. Its just a bit more of a challange.

Would love to hear your solutions......

Larry

[Jamie Buxton]

The murphy bed idea gives you a real bed when it is open, but does eat a fair amount of space when it is closed. Shop carefully to get a mattress that is only 6-8" thick (Ikea has them), not those 14" thick monsters the mattress stores are selling nowadays. The drop-down bed idea would have to be done carefully; a bed is rather heavy, so the mechanism for getting it down and putting it up would need to be strong. You might consider an air bed. (google with "air bed" for lots of examples) They stow in a small space. I'll have to admit that they're not as comfortable as a real bed, but they're okay.

[Harry Hagan]

Those inflatable (uncomfortable) mattresses can be real useful when you don’t want your guests to overstay their welcome. We have one with a slow leak that deposits that special guest firmly on a hard floor early in the morning. :D

[Michael Weber]

Larry, your house sounds unique. I would love to see some pictures of it when it's finished or even under construction.

[Mike Henderson]

I built a bed at one time in my life that was connected to the ceiling with four ropes and could be raised and lowered. Worked fine but you had to get accustom to the bed moving as you rolled over or otherwise moved in the bed. I used it for a number of years. I was younger then (much younger) so I could sleep anywhere.

Mike

[Bonnie Campbell]

Hammocks ;)

[Belinda Barfield]

I like Mike's idea. My grandmother was a quilter. She died when I was two. I vividly remember going to my grandfather's house and seeing her quilting frames up against the ceiling in the living room. When she was alive grandpa would lower the frames for her when she needed to quilt, and raise them back up and tie them off when she was finished. The tie off ropes ran through hooks in the ceiling beams. I'm not sure of the exact mechanism for all of this but I'm it shouldn't be that hard to design. I think the idea of a suspended rope bed that could be raised when not in use fits with the schoolhouse concept. As long as you keep the ropes tight on the frame and get a quality mattress it should be pretty comfortable.

[Matt Meiser]

Our stateroom on a recent cruise had a bunk bed that came out of the ceiling. I didn't pay much attention to the mechanism but it seems like the back was solid, probably on some kind of tracks, and the front suspended by wire rope. If you want to go, it was the Disney Dream. :D

Also, no reason a bed that cranks up into the ceiling on ropes couldn't have legs that allow it to sit on the floor when in the in-use position to avoid what Mike describes.

It seems like the framing is going to be a nightmare--your builder is going to hate you. Err...um....

[Mike Henderson]

Also, no reason a bed that cranks up into the ceiling on ropes couldn't have legs that allow it to sit on the floor when in the in-use position to avoid what Mike describes.
Good idea. I didn't think of that back then. The legs could fold up like on a card table.

Mike

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a 1000# 110V winch I was thinking of when I was on to the ceiling bed. Limit switches on both ends of the cycle. That section of the house only has 8"4" rough ceiling height, and as I built the house in December by myself so I used trusses to speed it up. To modify them I would have to get an engineered drawing as builders are no longer allowed to make any decisions here any more.:rolleyes: So....

That means as I am using a double layer thermos ceiling that I came up with, I only have 11 1/4"s to the top of my window. For the mattress and its cover to stick down lower than the trim would be a clumbsy looking arrangement I am afraid, and to go up into the ceiling would compromise my insulation package, something I am not prone to do.

I guess "If" I could find a reasonably comfortable mattress that was in the 4" thick range It still may be do'able.

I want a booth in this porch/ bedroom area, and I can make the booth fold into a bed support, but then where do I hide the mattress?

I have a walkout basement on one end with a greenhouse going there eventually, and I could do a bedroom there with the sun from the greenhouse streaming in, but it seems that a bedroom in the basement would make someone feel like the redheaded stepchild, and that would also mean I have to put a bathroom downstairs.

I find that working on my own home is the most difficult home to work on, all of the decisions are mine, and there are sooo.... many possibilitys.

Thanks so far, but keep it coming.....

Larry

[Matt Meiser]

We got a custom foam mattress made for our camper thats reasonably comfortable and is probably about that thick. I'd measure and let you know for sure but the camper is at indoor storage until April. We got it from Banner Mattreess in Toledo who normally I would not shop at but they make their own right here and could accommodate custom dimensions at a reasonable cost. They call it a boat mattress.

I found a random photo on the web of the cruise ship bed. I guess it didn't have cables (hey, our bar tab was big, what can I say?)http://www.ciaobambino.com/ciaobambinoblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bunk-bed-disney-dream.jpg

[Ryan Mooney]

I thought this design was cool, would be .. interesting .. to build though.
http://www.iservizidesign.com/hideaway_beds.htm
I saw a slightly more detailed explanation once but can't find it now. Basically the slats collapse over each other and the latex top is squishy enough to squeeze into the space. Kind of like a murphy bed, but you get back about 50% of the space.

We have an Ikea latex mattress which is fairly thin (7" so still double your 4" range) and super comfortable. Its meant to go on a slat frame (and will as soon as I get one made.. :rolleyes:).

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I have a walkout basement ... I could do a bedroom there ... but it seems that a bedroom in the basement would make someone feel like the redheaded stepchild, and that would also mean I have to put a bathroom downstairs.

My parents built a very nice bedroom in their basement, which works very well because my wife and I (and our two kids) have all the privacy that we could ever need when we visit. We do have a bathroom with a shower there. Note that the bedroom is always a bedroom.

I assume that you will have sufficient heating to keep the porch / bedroom you are considering suitably warm in the winter. I grew up about 28 miles north of Detroit and I thought it was cold there.... I expect that if you are in Northern Michigan, it is a bit cooler yet - it gets pretty cold here in Columbus Ohio for a porch bedroom. I am thinking about say daughters visiting for Christmas and such. Then again, if that is the extent of your house, if your girls are married with children, you may need to go to their house so that everyone fits (especially after they each have four grandchildren for you).

[Art Mulder]

I have a walkout basement on one end with a greenhouse going there eventually, and I could do a bedroom there with the sun from the greenhouse streaming in, but it seems that a bedroom in the basement would make someone feel like the redheaded stepchild, and that would also mean I have to put a bathroom downstairs.

Why?

A walkout basement with big windows should feel lovely and bright. What's wrong with that?
And the bathroom, again, why? I was in a basement bedroom my entire childhood, and we never had a bathroom down there!

Sure, it'd be nice, (and I'd probably make sure and leave room if I built a bedroom), but I wouldn't consider it mandatory for occasional guest use!

[Larry Edgerton]

I assume that you will have sufficient heating to keep the porch / bedroom you are considering suitably warm in the winter. I grew up about 28 miles north of Detroit and I thought it was cold there.... I expect that if you are in Northern Michigan, it is a bit cooler yet.

It is a porch in name only, and we call it that because that is how we will use it. The heat can be shut off, but the insulation package is exactly that same as the rest of the house with the same Marvin thermopane double hungs.

I will be rethinking the basement thing, you and Art may have a point with the privacy thing. Especially as I have not come up with a solution that I like.

Larry

[Belinda Barfield]

The SO's mother had a basement mother-in-law suite. Every holiday we all fought over who got to stay down there. The privacy was a blessing!

[Matt Meiser]

The basement bathroom might be really nice for you as well--guests can use that and you can have yours to yourself. My brother and his wife have a small house. When we visit and double the number of people there, the single bath becomes a bottleneck.

[Dave Ogren]

Take a look at motor homes, they have a lot of innovative sleeping solutions.

Dave